Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Hag-Seed, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Theater and The Tempest
Vengeance
Imprisonment and Marginalization
Transformation and Change
Grief
Summary
Analysis
As the cast party is drawing to a close, 8Handz reminds Felix about the ninth prison, the one they couldn’t identify before. Felix explains that while Prospero triumphs in the end, he also loses Miranda and Ariel, the two people to whom he was closest. As he prepares to give up his magic powers in the last scene, Prospero feels trapped and tells the audience that unless they deem the play a success, he’ll be doomed to live on the island alone “by their spell.” He also asks the audience to pray for him, seeking a divine pardon for his crimes.
Felix imagined that his successful revenge would bring about uncomplicated feelings of triumph, but just like Prospero, he’s feeling new kinds of loss and dissatisfaction. Moreover, like Prospero Felix has based his self-worth on the power he can wield over others. Now that he’s accomplished his revenge and relinquished this power, he has to frame his self-conception in a new way.
Themes
Prospero never explains what exactly he feels guilty about, but Felix posits that since The Tempest is essentially about Prospero producing his own play, “maybe the fault for which he needs to be pardoned is the play itself.” No one understands at first, but Felix reminds them that he engenders a lot of anger and suffering during the play, for which he now wishes to be forgiven.
Prospero considers himself righteous and justified in his revenge until the end of the play, when doubt finally kicks in. Similarly, it’s only once he’s accomplished his own revenge that Felix begins to wonder if the whole process was worth it.
Themes
In light of this, the ninth prison is actually the play itself, in which—unless the audience helps him out—Prospero will be trapped forever, reliving his feelings of revenge. Felix points out that Prospero’s last line is “set me free,” a phrase he would never use unless he felt imprisoned.
As she walks out of the classroom with Felix, Anne-Marie is almost tearful. Dylan congratulates her on her cookies and Felix on his play. They’re looking forward to seeing him next year. As Felix drives home, he surveys the melting snow; it’s almost spring, and he feels like he’s been in the prison for years. He looks around for Miranda, wondering if she left the party with him; in fact, she’s in the back seat, seeming sad to leave behind all the exciting and wonderful people of the play.
Even though Felix has staged a magnificent production of The Tempest in her honor, his relationship with Miranda is largely unchanged—she still exists only to him and he hasn’t extricated himself from his dependence on her presence. While theater can help him expose hidden truths, it can’t provide a magical solution to his grief.
Themes
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